He said here on Thursday the efforts made through communication with leaders of the parties in and outside the coalition was not an extraordinary thing and therefore there was no need to give a deadline to it.
"I have conducted the evaluation for 1.5 years and I have received a lot of views, proposals and recommendations from various quarters and the coalition indeed needs to be put in order and re-vamped. The re-vamping is actually not extraordinary. We refer it to its essence, namely what we have been coalescing for," he said at a cabinet meeting.
He said the communication that he was making with leaders of political parties in and outside the coalition did not disrupt the implementation of his state duties.
Wishing to straighten out wrong perceptions held by some people with regard to coalition President Yudhyono said that the coalition was actually a group of political parties that have common goals of advancing the government.
Quoting Ernest Renan about a nation which Renan defines as the will of those who wish to unite and work together the President said that coalition in essence has the same definition and goal.
"So the will of the coalition is to unite and work together and therefore its spirit, act and behavior must reflect that," he said.
In an effort to give a full understanding of the agreement to coalesce President Yudhoyono quoted the first paragraph of the coalition agreement namely "today on Thursday, October 15, 2009 I as chief of political party X agreed to coalesce and support fully for the success of the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono from 2009 to 2014 in the executive and legislative fronts." he said.
He said the paragraph is followed by 11 points of agreement. Based on that he said that when he was trying to re-order the coalition it was actually only a simple questioning about the implementation of the agreement by the political parties in the coalition.
"What I am doing must not finish in a week. It is different from overcoming a crisis from natural disaster and threats from an enemy which must be done immediately. The cabinet is still in place, politics is still running. So why must it be finished in one or two days. It can cause mistakes. Let us understand. We must not do it in a hurry, carelessly with anger. We may be emotional but we must not make decisions that way," he said.
President Yudhoyono on the occasion also touched on opinions of several quarters carried in the media accusing the President of being dependent on political parties to choose cabinet members.
"In the past era it is the President that fully determines the ministers. No party is needed. All can be professionals. The situation now is different. This is multi-party democracy," he said.
In view of that President Yudhoyono called on all parties to understand the present context and political situation that has changed from dozens of years ago when given views, inputs or opinions.
The cabinet meeting was attended by all cabinet members. There had been reports that the President would conduct a reshuffle.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
